ABC’s Aaron Brown Going to CNN

CNN, which has been on a mission to add star power to its on-air staff, has hired ABC News’ Aaron Brown to anchor a new flagship evening newscast and the cable news network’s coverage of major breaking news.

Brown, 52, who has been anchoring the Saturday edition of ABC’s “World News Tonight” and had at one point been considered a possible successor to Peter Jennings, takes over lead CNN anchor duties that had been filled by Bernard Shaw before he retired in February. Brown will join CNN sometime this summer, with the show beginning in the fall.

The hiring is one of the first major moves since Jamie Kellner took over as head of CNN parent Turner Broadcasting, promising to boost CNN’s on-air talent. CNN also has rehired longtime “Moneyline” anchor Lou Dobbs and hired former “NYPD Blue” star Andrea Thompson as a CNN Headline News anchor.

Brown’s writing and reporting skills are widely admired at ABC, where he reports for “World News Tonight” and “Nightline.” He was hired in December 1991 from a local news anchor job in Seattle to co-anchor ABC’s overnight news, which he did for a year.

Although he then went on to a number of high-profile reporting assignments, including covering the death of Princess Diana and the hand-over of Hong Kong to the Chinese, the network never quite figured out what to do with Brown in the anchor chair. He had about 18 months left on his contract, but ABC agreed to let him go for what it said is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him.”

Sid Bedingfield, executive vice president and general manager of CNN/U.S., called Brown “a strong journalist and an exceptional writer who delivers the news with credibility, with grace and there’s a little charm there. And he’s a great storyteller. That says a lot about what we want here at CNN.”

He said CNN hasn’t decided on a time slot for the show, or other details, adding “It will have the news of the day in it, but it needs to have much more in it, reporting and storytelling you can’t find anywhere else.”

The network, which has tried unsuccessfully to launch a flagship newscast in its two decades on the air, has decided to try again as a way to distinguish itself from its main competition, Fox News Channel.

The move comes as Nielsen Media Research ratings, released Wednesday, show that Fox beat CNN in total prime-time viewers in May, with an average 508,000 viewers to CNN’s 505,000 during the 8 p.m.-11 p.m. period in the East. MSNBC, which prides itself on its younger audience, averaged 280,000 viewers.

Brown will anchor out of new CNN studios in New York, a shift for the network, which has its hard news operations based mostly in Atlanta. A new evening talk show anchored by Jeff Greenfield also will be based in New York.

An ABC News spokesman said, “Aaron’s been a terrific correspondent but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him. We wish him nothing but the very best.”